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IU Simon Cancer Center among "best," according to U.S. News & World Report

INDIANAPOLIS -- (July 16, 2010) --One cancer program in Indiana has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report in its 2010 publication of “America’s Best Hospitals.”

Cancer clinical care programs at Clarian Health-Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM), including those at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, ranked #40 in the magazine's 2010-11 edition of “America's Best Hospitals.” The IU Simon Cancer Center is the only cancer center in Indiana ranked in the guide.

Overall, 11 clinical programs at Clarian-IUSM are ranked among the top 50 national programs. Only 152 of the 4,852 hospitals evaluated nationwide performed well enough to rank in even one specialty. Clarian hospitals are the only Indiana hospitals included in the rankings.

The rankings were driven by data such as death rates, procedure volume, and balance of nurses and patients.

To be considered in any of the 12 data-driven specialties, a hospital first had to meet at least one of four criteria: It had to be a teaching hospital, or be affiliated with a medical school, or have at least 200 beds, or have 100 or more beds and the availability of four or more types of medical technology considered important in a high-quality medical facility, such as a PET/CT scanner and certain precision radiation therapies.

Next, the hospitals had to meet a volume requirement, individually calculated for each specialty. The required volume was the number of Medicare inpatients from 2006 to 2008 who had various specified procedures and conditions in the specialty. A hospital that fell short could still qualify if it had been nominated by at least one physician in any of the U.S. News Best Hospitals reputational surveys conducted in 2008, 2009, and 2010.